


Collar

by alex_caligari



Series: All of Me, All of You [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Anal Sex, Angst and Fluff and Smut, BAMF Sub, Bondage, Collars, Dom/sub, M/M, Punishment, Spanking, soft dom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-16 11:00:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15435636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex_caligari/pseuds/alex_caligari
Summary: “Do you know how hard it is to do leatherwork without leatherworking tools?” Lance blurted out. “I asked Hunk for his advice on punching holes and whatever, but he didn’t have the right tools, either, so—”Keith laughed. “I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s have a look.”Lance held out the parcel wrapped in soft grey fabric. “Tell me if you don’t like it.”





	1. Chapter 1

Keith kept his own room.

A few days after they acknowledged the bond, Lance had sought out Shiro. “Shouldn’t I want him close by all the time?” he said when they were alone in the dining hall. “Isn’t it a nesting instinct or whatever?”

Shiro lifted an eyebrow. “Did you ask him to move in with you?”

“No. I mean, if he wants to, he only has to ask, but—” Lance rubbed his arms. “I kinda like knowing he has a place to go that’s for himself. A safe place for when I’m not there.”

Shiro pushed a bowl of neon pink berries towards him. “Then I think you’re doing just fine.”

Keith stayed over a few days a week if Lance wasn’t already staying over at his. Lance had taken one step into Keith’s bare-bones room and declared it needed at least three personal items. So, he brought in an old sleep shirt, a photo of the two of them post-mission, and a half-melted white candle. Keith had been protesting until he caught sight of the last item and stuttered to a halt. He didn’t argue after that.

It wasn’t the only new thing Lance gave him.

True to his word, Lance had gone through his closet the day after they officially bonded and pulled out a couple of Altean leather coats. He cleared it with Allura to alter them and pencilled out designs. Keith had left him to it, saying a Dom’s gift to his sub should come entirely from the Dom and not be influenced by outside forces. Besides, Keith had added with a crooked smile, he could always make Lance do it again.

The next day, Lance found Keith on the observation deck. Lance swallowed. His nervousness was leaking over the bond, and Keith stayed quiet as Lance approached.

“Do you know how hard it is to do leatherwork without leatherworking tools?” Lance blurted out. “I asked Hunk for his advice on punching holes and whatever, but he didn’t have the right tools, either, so—”

Keith laughed. “I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s have a look.”

Lance held out the parcel wrapped in soft grey fabric. “Tell me if you don’t like it.”

Keith pulled the fabric off and gazed at the collar. His face was doing something complicated; he blinked rapidly and kept scrunching his nose. The bond was unhelpfully blank.

“It’s a first attempt,” Lance said. “But I have plenty of leftover material to make another one—” Keith cut him off by pulling him in for a messy, passionate kiss. Lance tasted salt and rubbed away Keith’s tears. “Must not have been too terrible,” Lance said when Keith released him.

“It’s perfect.” Keith fitted it around his neck and snapped it closed. He looked at Lance with wet eyes and a blinding smile.

It did funny things to Lance’s knees. He ran a finger under the collar to check the fit. “It suits you.” He had based the style on old fighting collars warriors used to wear. It was about two inches wide with Altean curlicues and intricate knots covering the dark brown leather. It looked elegant and dangerous.

“Thank you,” Keith said. He looked a bit awestruck and wouldn’t stop touching the supple leather.

Lance cleared his throat. “There’s another part, too.” He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a cuff around his left wrist. It repeated one particular knot from the collar, making them undeniably a pair.

“You actually did it,” Keith said.

“Of course I did,” Lance said. “Can’t have those aliens get the idea they even have a chance with me.” He gave a cocky grin. “Plus, they’re totally badass. Just like us.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “How’d I get stuck with you again?” But the bond was clear and bubbling.

Despite Keith’s initial hesitation, he rarely took the collar off. He removed it for missions, but even then, it was with reluctance. Lance had gone around to everyone to say yes, he and Keith had officially bonded—earning a handshake from Shiro, a slap on the back from Pidge, and a bone-crushing hug from Hunk—and Keith would wear his collar whenever he wanted. To Allura and Coran, he explained the collar was a symbol of a bond between psychically compatible individuals and left it at that. If either of them had more questions, well, he would deal with it when it happened. Or pass them off onto Shiro.

That had been a month ago. Now, Lance woke up to the photo Keith had stuck to the inside of his bunk. Keith himself was tucked himself under Lance’s chin; he claimed he got cold at night, but Lance figured it was another excuse to cuddle. He ruffled Keith’s hair, eliciting a sleepy murmur from the other boy, then rubbed his fingers along Keith’s collar.

“You’re thinking too loudly,” Keith muttered from beneath the bedsheets.

“I’m surprised you’re saying I think at all,” Lance replied.

“I’m the impulsive one, ‘member?” Keith emerged from under the covers, his bedhead truly awful. “No thinking allowed.”

“Are you still asleep? Because you’re just stringing words together.”

Keith clumsily covered Lance’s mouth. “Shh. Too early.”

Lance mollified him by nuzzling into his hair. “No problem, pet. No missions today. Just a quiet, relaxing break. Actually...” He wriggled under the covers and slid down Keith’s body, kissing along the way. “I have a better way to wake up,” he said as Keith became much more alert.

&&&

Lance needed to keep his mouth shut. Their quiet, relaxing day morphed into all of them getting attacked by a haunted castleship. Since joining Team Voltron, Lance had a fair number of near-death experiences under his belt. But the memory of being in that airlock would stay with him for a long time. The stabbing cold and the breath being pulled from his lungs provided plenty of nightmare fuel already, but the sight of Keith’s pale face as he hauled Lance back in guaranteed more than a few sleepless nights. Afterwards, Keith wouldn’t leave Lance alone and kept wrapping himself around Lance whenever he stood still for more than two tics. It was cute in an overprotective way, and Lance welcomed the contact.

Their misfortune continued. Maybe the universe needed to balance their number of good days with their bad, or maybe it was the nature of war that it got worse—way worse—before it got better.

Because then they lost Allura.

And they were going after Zarkon.

“That was cold, suggesting we leave Allura behind,” Lance said into the quiet dark of his room. It was the night before their attack on the Galran stronghold.

Keith shifted beside him. “I was considering the bigger picture.” He didn’t face Lance.

“I know. It’s what you’re good at.” Lance nuzzled into the space between Keith’s shoulder blades. “It made me wonder what else you’d be willing to sacrifice.”

That got Keith’s attention. He rolled over. “Do you think I’d leave you behind?” His tone was half-incredulous, half-insulted.

Lance ran his hand through Keith’s hair, a move he knew was soothing. “You don’t _want_ to leave anyone behind. I think you want to prevent people from being hurt. And if protecting the rest of us means cutting your losses...” Lance shrugged.

Keith’s dark eyes shone. “It does sound cold when you say it.” He pushed into the touch, and his voice became small and brittle. “I would never leave you behind. I couldn’t. If I couldn’t feel you, then I—”

 _Uh oh._ Keith was getting tangled in his head, and he couldn’t afford to get bogged down ahead of a battle. Lance gripped the back of Keith’s neck, right over the clasp of the collar. “Hey. I know you won’t. You know how I know?”

Keith shook his head.

“Because I feel the same way.” Lance let the mischief into his smirk. “Plus, I have something you might want to come home for.”

“Oh no,” Keith said, deadpan.

“Oh, yes.” Lance’s other hand skimmed Keith’s flank and dipped below the waistband of his flannel pants. “It’s something we’ve talked about for a while.”

“Lance,” Keith warned.

“Yes?”

“What—” He swallowed. “What did you have in mind?”

 _Playing it cool, eh?_ “First I’d start with your legs. Belt them up so you couldn’t get away.” Keith shivered, and Lance continued. “Then your wrists. Tie them behind your back. Put a couple belts across your chest to hold everything together.” Lance kissed down Keith’s neck and listened to him whine. Keith’s energy was amazing to watch when he directed it towards a goal, but he could get lost when he didn’t have a purpose. The belts helped contain and focus him. Lance had mentioned his fantasy of using belts for bondage to Keith, and the next day found a dozen on his bed Keith had scavenged from the castle.

Keith writhed against him. “And then—and then what?”

“And then, my beautiful pet—” Lance cradled Keith’s face. “Then I would make you beg.”

Keith’s half-lidded, lust-drunk expression vanished with a flash of annoyance. “Damn it, Lance,” he said while pushing Lance away.

Lance snickered. Keith hated begging. Not enough to safeword out, but enough that Lance got a kick out of it. “I can’t help it. You’re adorable when you’re annoyed, but can’t do anything about it.”

Keith turned towards the pillow so Lance strained to hear what he said. “I thought you were serious about it.”

“Oh, love, come here.” Lance wrapped himself around Keith so he couldn’t ignore him. “I am very serious about it. I’ll give you everything you need as long as you need it. You can’t quite put it into words? That’s all right, I can talk enough for both of us. Trust me.”

“I trust you,” Keith said against Lance’s chest.

“Perfect, because it seems I have an unfulfilled sub on my hands. Or rather—” Lance redirected his touches. “In my hands.”

“That—that’s a terrible joke,” Keith tried to gripe as Lance took hold of them both.

“Shh,” he said. “Relax and let me take care of you.”

And Keith—angry, mistrustful, rebellious Keith—let him.

&&&

“Lance? Buddy? Can you hear me? Lance!”

A voice over Blue’s comm. Not the right one. But enough to bring him back. “What?”

“Lance! You’re awake. Thank god. We hit the water pretty hard, and I wasn’t sure if you were knocked out or—well, never mind.”

“Hunk?” Lance blinked. Blue’s cockpit was dark with only the running lights on, and the world outside was dim and murky. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, really. We were going through the wormhole with the Castle of Lions, then some weird energy hit it and it became unstable. We got separated.”

Lance straightened and a headache spiked through his brain. “The others?”

Hunk paused. “I haven’t been able to reach them. We’re alone out here.”

“No.” Lance hammered at the controls, trying to bring Blue back online. “No, no, no, there has to be something. There can’t be nothing, they can’t be _gone_ —”

“Lance.” Hunk’s voice cut through his panic. “Our lions took a huge hit. I can’t tell how much damage there is or how it’s affecting our communications. For all we know, they could be just on the other side of this planet.”

“Or the other side of the galaxy.”

Hunk blew through his teeth in frustration, sending static over the comm. “Maybe. But the others are as tough as nails. None of them will go down easily. Okay? Don’t give up on them yet.” He paused. “Don’t give up on Keith.”

Lance thumped his head back against the pilot’s chair. “Shiro said he could still sense Matt even though they were separated.”

Another pause. “Can you do that?”

“They had years to deepen the bond. Ours is so new. I don’t know if—” Lance bit his lip. “But I’ll try.”

Breathing slowly, he dove deep inside himself. The bond on his side felt like the edge of the ocean: vast, steady, and never-ending. Usually, he could follow a clear current over to Keith’s side and read his sub’s emotional state by the look of the shore. The current was there now, a calm channel cutting through the waves, and Lance followed it. His metaphorical ocean felt bigger than it should, bigger than anything that existed on Earth. It stretched and stretched and stretched. There was nothing there except the ocean and a current reaching to infinity.

Lance never felt so lost.

“Nothing,” he said. His voice was rough. “The bond is there, but it doesn’t connect to anything. It’s like it’s reaching for him, but there’s no end point.”

Hunk hummed. “That’s something.”

Lance drummed his fingers on the controls. “Yeah.” Something twigged in his mind. “Wait, you said we hit water. Where are we?”

“An ocean. We broke through some thick ice first, and we’ve been drifting since. Any response from your lion?”

“Not much. She seems more stunned than anything.”

“We won’t be able to help the others if we can’t help ourselves first,” Hunk said, ever pragmatic.

Lance shook his head to dispel his dark thoughts. “Good point.” A flash of movement out his view screen caught his attention. “Hey, Hunk, did you see that? There's something out there.”

&&&

Keith, meanwhile, was attempting to keep Shiro conscious while making sure those lizard-wolf things didn’t return. “Come on, Shiro, doesn’t the Black Lion have a secret power, like Red’s flamethrower?” He nudged the older man as Shiro’s eyes drifted closed again. “It doesn’t have a super radio or something?”

Shiro huffed a laugh that turned into a painful grunt. “Not that I know of. He doesn’t like revealing his secrets. And with Zarkon still able to control him, I’m not surprised.”

Keith scanned the empty desert. “I could go get Red,” he said without conviction.

“There’s no guarantee the Red Lion will be operational,” Shiro said. “Plus, if those lizards come back, the Black Lion is the only thing that’ll fend them off.”

Keith drew his knees in, tapping a foot against the ground. They were both quiet for so long Keith thought Shiro had fallen unconscious again. But when he checked, Shiro was watching him.

“I can tell you’re worried,” Shiro said.

Keith sighed. There wasn’t really a point in hiding his concerns from Shiro. “What if the others can’t find us? What if they’re hurt? What if—” He stopped, chewing his lip.

Shiro’s voice was gentle. “You can’t connect to Lance, can you?”

Having it so starkly stated had the air rushing out of Keith’s lungs. He said nothing for fear of losing control completely.

“He’s out there,” Shiro said. Even with the blood loss and the grey pallor to his skin, Shiro exuded authority. “I’ve seen broken bonds, and it is not something easily forgotten. That you’re still coherent and not lost in your head means he’s still alive.”

The reassurance crashed into Keith, releasing stress that had him wound up too tight for too long. He stared at the sky, blinking hard. It may have partly been the primitive instincts of a sub reacting to a trusted Dom, but Keith was glad Shiro was here to talk him down.

When he could speak again, Keith asked, “How does it feel? When you’re separated by so much?”

Shiro sagged back against the rock. “He’s on the other side of a wall,” he said. “A white, featureless wall that goes on forever. But he’s there. Waiting.” A tiny smile touched Shiro’s mouth. “Although, knowing Matt, he’s more likely being a nuisance for the bad guys. Exactly like his sister.”

The thought of Pidge had Keith worried all over again. “I hope they’re okay.”

Another weak laugh. “I’ve never met a bunch of kids that could get into trouble the way you guys can. But you know what?” Shiro bumped Keith with his elbow. “It means you’re good at getting out of trouble, too. Trust me.”

It struck Keith how young Shiro was. He was barely older than the rest of them. It was easy to forget due to Shiro’s easy confidence. On Earth, he had been fast-tracked to his senior officer position because they needed a pilot with his skills for the Kerberos mission. Then he spent a year as a prisoner fighting for his life against aliens. He never talked about what caused the lines around his eyes or his hair to go prematurely white. Now he was here, still a soldier, still fighting. Still believing.

Keith nodded. “Okay.”

&&&

“Mermaids!”

Keith gawked at Lance for a heartbeat. Lance had bolted from Blue’s hanger as soon as he landed in the castleship, driven by the neon-bright bond to the med bay. He wasn’t sure who moved first, but then Keith was practically tackling him in a hug.

“Thank god you’re safe,” he murmured into Lance’s shoulder, then looked up. “Wait, what mermaids?”

“The cool alien mermaids Hunk and I saved from certain doom. Not that it’s a big deal or anything.” He grinned at Keith. “I’m glad you’re safe, too.”

Hunk pushed Lance aside and caught Keith up in a hug, saying, “We were so worried about you guys.” Pidge immediately elbowed her way in, pulling Lance along with her. Allura and Coran approached them, looking tired but pleased, and Shiro—

Lance’s mirth fell away as he caught sight of Shiro in the healing pod.

“Haggar injured Shiro in the battle,” Allura said, answering the unspoken question. “It was quite severe by the time we got him in the pod, but luckily Pidge’s beacon allowed us to locate him in time.”

“He’ll be fine,” Keith added. “Got knocked around by lizard-wolves, but he put up a good fight.”

“Yeah.” Lance checked out the others with fresh concern. “What happened to you guys?”

“We’re all right,” Pidge said. “Really. Sounds like you and Hunk had the most adventure out of any of us.” She crossed her arms. “I landed in a literal garbage dump.”

“And the princess and I were stuck in a time loop,” Coran said with more enthusiasm than Lance suspected the event warranted.

Allura moved forward. “We should debrief once everyone has rested. We have much to discuss concerning what happened at Zarkon’s ship. Meet in the observation room in, say, two vargas?”

“Sounds good.” Pidge fixed the other three paladins with an intense look. “Okay, mermaids and lizard-wolves? You have to tell me _everything_.”

&&&

Things got a little shaky when they learned about the Blade of Marmora. It divided the team in a way they hadn’t been since they first arrived at the Castle of Lions. Keith was especially twitchy. He trusted the Blades when he trusted no one.

Lance tried not to pry, he really did. He had to believe Keith would talk about it when he was ready, but patience was never Lance’s strong suit. He dipped into the bond and found nothing.

He tried not using words. He kissed support and understanding into Keith’s skin, licked trust into his mouth, and held belonging his arms. It still wasn’t enough.

He went to Shiro, who wasn't sure what was bothering Keith.

Lance continued to observe and said nothing.

When Ulaz died to save them, Keith took it hard. The same person willing to leave Allura behind as a prisoner was now mourning a dead Galra. When Lance approached Keith about it, what began as a simple question devolved into an all-out fight, with Keith saying they couldn’t judge all Galra the same and Lance saying they couldn’t start doubting every Galran soldier they met.

“Yeah, because never giving someone a second chance worked out great for _us,_ didn’t it?” Keith spat before he walked away.

The tension had everyone snapping at each other. Hunk got into it with Shiro over the Blade, and Pidge and Allura were increasing security on the Castle of Lions to prevent another Galra from sneaking onboard. Keith was spending more time in his room or on the training deck using his knife instead of his bayard. Even Coran had become sick with some disgusting alien disease.

They needed a break.

And Lance needed to stop getting his hopes up.

“How does he keep finding us?” Pidge yelled over the alarm. Zarkon’s warship was off their port bow, and Allura was charging the Teludav once again.

A stab of pain hit Lance at the base of the skull and he automatically looked over to Keith. He was hunched over the controls at his console, but had gone white at Pidge’s words. Something had scared him.

Lance couldn’t worry about that right now. He and Keith were busy fending off the pods darting around like pilot fish. Lance shouted out a warning and Keith’s drone narrowly dodged getting blasted. “Thanks,” Keith said, risking a glance over.

“Anytime,” Lance replied.

Things were still a little tense between them. When the elevator got stuck on their way to the pool, Lance had hoped for a heartfelt conversation about what was bothering them and making up—and making out—to follow because he was officially living in a rom-com. Keith shattered that fantasy by suggesting they _climb out of the elevator shaft_ by Spiderman-ing their way out. Lance’s skin still felt warm from where Keith had pressed into his back.

“I think.” Allura’s voice shook in a way Lance hadn’t heard in a long time. “I think they’re tracking me.”

“No,” Coran immediately said. “That’s impossible. How would they know—”

“I am rather unique in the universe.” She tried to smile, but the humour fell flat.

“It might not be you,” Keith said. They all turned to him, and he ducked his head under the scrutiny. “I mean, they had the Red Lion, and Zarkon could still track it. Right?” He looked at Allura.

Her brow furrowed. “Perhaps.”

Pidge opened a map on her console display. “There’s a metallic storm ahead of us we can hide in until we figure it out.”

Allura nodded, and they beat a hasty retreat.

Fixing the Teludav and escaping Zarkon was a close call. If Lance had ever thought about the kind of space adventures he’d be having, Hunk’s baking saving the day would not have been on the list. Nor would have being smeared with Coran’s—guh—secretions.

“This,” Lance said as he peeled off pieces of his armour, “is officially the weirdest day I’ve ever experienced.”

Pidge took off her helmet and shook out her hair. “I would kill for a regular old video game that didn’t try to kill me if I messed up.”

“Amen, sister,” Hunk added as he shucked his boots. “I would kill for _anything_ that didn’t try to kill me first.”

Keith had needed to talk to Shiro, who needed to talk to Allura, so the three of them were alone in the equipment room. As Pidge wiped down the inside of her armour, she kept shooting glances at Lance. “Spit it out, Pidge,” he said.

She looked over at Hunk, then said, “Is Keith okay?”

“Yeah, he’s been quiet since Ulaz died,” Hunk said. “Quieter than usual, I mean.”

Lance’s greaves joined his chest plate on the ground. “I don’t know. Something’s got him twitchy. I don’t want to force him to tell me. We’re in a good place right now.”

“Are you?” Pidge said.

Lance snorted. “Compared to when the bond first clarified? Yes.” He pulled off his gloves and rubbed the leather cuff on his wrist. “He trusts me.”

Hunk and Pidge shared another look Lance could read as clear as day. “We’ll keep an eye on him,” Hunk said.

The insinuation that he couldn’t take care of his sub should have annoyed him, but instead it settled Lance. Bond-families weren’t linked like pair-bonds, but they looked after each other as if they were. Lance reached out, meeting Hunk halfway and gripping his forearm. “Thanks, guys.”

Hunk squeezed back, then clapped his hands. “Now, who wants to help me make real, non-spaceship-parts cookies?”

The debriefing afterwards helped nothing. Allura still thought Zarkon was tracking her, Shiro thought he was tracking the Black Lion, and Keith thought he was tracking Keith.

“How does that work?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know, maybe he imprinted on me when we fought,” Keith said.

Lance frowned. “Zarkon isn’t a duckling. And why would he track you? Not to sound like a jackass, but you’re on a ship with a bunch of other humans. What makes you stick out? Or,” Lance continued, ignoring Keith’s wince, “maybe he’s tracking our bond. We don’t know what kind of space woo-woo magic Haggar and her fangirls can cook up.”

“Shiro has a bonded,” Keith countered.

“Shiro’s bonded is a million miles away—sorry, Shiro.” He looked back at their leader. Shiro’s jaw tightened at the mention of Matt, but he waved off Lance’s apology. “I just mean it wouldn’t be as strong.”

“It doesn’t matter how he’s tracking us,” Shiro cut in, “because we’re taking the fight to him. Pidge, you said you were working on a predictive algorithm?”

Pidge adjusted her glasses with a touch of pride as she launched into an explanation. Lance wasn’t listening. Instead, he skimmed across the bond. Keith, always a little tightly wound, was now the same contained chaos he was before a fight, like a hurricane in a milk jug.

Days of running and fighting with little sleep left them exhausted, so Lance put it down to Keith’s inability to relax on his own and made a mental note to do a scene with him soon.

But not now. Later, when Lance could focus and not risk falling asleep in the middle.

He thought nothing of it when Keith headed to his own room. Nothing appeared wrong until Pidge woke him several hours later.

“What, what,” Lance said, then became more alert as he realized who was shaking him. “What happened?”

“Allura and Keith,” Pidge said, eyes wide. “They’re gone.”

&&&

Standing next to Red’s warm metal should have chased any chill from the air, but goosebumps still raced along Keith’s skin. This was going to be bad.

Allura marched down the ramp like the warrior she was to face the troops she had abandoned, and Keith tried to mimic her dignity. He stood behind her as Shiro and Coran spoke in tight voices with Allura, who acknowledged her mistake and vowed to always consult with the team before making such a big decision again. It was how a leader should act, and Allura was sincere in her regret.

Keith wasn’t paying attention to any of it. He was watching Lance switch between glaring at Allura and glaring at him. Then the team was dismissed, sensing the tension in the air.

He sought to cut Lance off as Lance stormed over to him. “Look, it was a mistake—”

“A mistake?” Lance said. “No, a mistake is unintentional. A mistake happens because of ignorance or naivety. This was a decision. You fucking packed for it. You didn’t talk to any of us beforehand, you didn’t talk to me—”

“Allura didn’t talk to you, either.” Keith knew getting irritated was wrong, but couldn’t stop himself. He was unsettled and unnerved, as if he had thorns under his skin. He had been avoiding Lance for long enough that the bond was as worn as a sprained muscle. It _hurt,_ and Keith lashed out. “Why don’t you yell at her?”

“Because she’s not my sub,” Lance said.

“So, you’re mad I disobeyed my Dom,” Keith countered. “Maybe you ought to tighten the leash. You tell me I’m reckless and short-tempered enough times.”

“This,” Lance said with dangerous ice in his voice, “has nothing to do with that.”

“Then what is it? Why are you personally offended?”

“Because you said you wouldn’t leave me behind.” Lance sucked in a breath. “Right before we rescued Allura from Zarkon. You said you couldn’t. Guess you didn’t know yourself as well as you thought.”

Keith rocked back. He touched his neck, bare as it usually was when he was on missions, but dropped his hand as if burned. Truth was, as soon as he and Allura left, Keith had a twist in his gut that demanded he go back. The pain had settled into his bones and only eased when he went back for them. When the others were already in danger. “I—I thought I was protecting you.”

Lance pointed an accusing finger at him. “No, you ran away because you were scared. Don’t make this into some noble sacrifice. You know how we protect each other? _By being together._ Us as bonded, and we as a team. We stick together, and we don’t leave each other behind.” Lance took another shaky breath and threw up his hands. “I can’t do this right now. Go debrief with Shiro. Tell him how you and Allura nearly died to protect us. Not like we need a Red Paladin and the last Altean in the universe who can fly our ship.” He walked away a few steps before pausing. “If you want to work this out, come find me later. But not right now.” Then he left.

Keith then had the unpleasant sensation of being on the other side of a winnowed bond. He wrapped his arms around himself and left to debrief.

&&&

Keith knocked on Lance’s door. It was late and, after a fruitless attempt at sleep, he took the risk of seeking his bonded.

Lance opened the door looking dishevelled and foggy-eyed. “Keith?”

“Sorry,” Keith said. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I mean, I did, but I hoped you were still awake—”

“Spit it out.” Lance rubbed his face and blinked at Keith.

Keith chewed his lip. “You said I could come find you. So, here I am.”

Lance was unimpressed. “Just like that?”

“I messed up. Really badly. Shiro and the others already reamed me out, but—” He couldn’t look at Lance and blew out between his teeth. “It’s more than that. I need my Dom.”

A pregnant pause. “What are you asking for?”

“I want—I need to be punished.”

A sharp intake of breath made him look up. All traces of sleep had left Lance, who eyed him.

Keith ducked his head again. “You said I could always come to you with thoughts and ideas and we could talk about them. So if we have to talk about this first, that’s fine, but you need to know how serious I am about this and how stupid I feel and—”

Lance reached out and placed one finger over Keith’s lips, stopping the flow of words. “Okay.”

“You sure?” he mumbled around the digit.

“Yeah.” Lance nodded. “I can give you that.” He stepped aside to let Keith into his room. “Stand in the middle there.”

Keith was hit with a wave of déjà vu of the first scene they did together. These were such different circumstances that Keith felt nausea roll through him.

He clasped his hands behind his back and lowered his head. He hadn’t been told to strip or kneel, so he waited as Lance pulled off his own shirt and stood at his open closet with his back to Keith. From the outside, Lance appeared to be ignoring him, but Keith knew Lance had to get into his headspace as much as Keith did. Keith could recognize the signs: the neutral tone to his voice, the stiffer posture, and the clinical detachment in his gaze. These quickly faded the more Lance felt comfortable in a scene. It was when Keith needed more from him that the coolness stayed.

Keith didn’t mind. He preferred having his joyous, teasing Dom in the softer scenes and this smooth, calm one for the intense stuff. They both needed the delineation. It made the aftercare much easier to bear when Lance came back to himself and his goofy, loving personality. That Lance wouldn’t be able to do this.

“Right,” Lance said with finality. “You have your collar on?”

“Yes.” He knew Lance had seen it already. Lance was looking to get Keith more pliant and open by asking easy questions.

Lance still hadn’t turned around. “Good. Leave it on. Take everything else off. Then close your eyes and don’t open them until I say so.”

Keith did so with a growing curiosity. Lance never trusted his skills as a traditional Dom and often derided himself for not being ‘proper.’ But it also led him to create unusual and challenging scenes. With any other Dom, Keith would expect pain or humiliation as a punishment, or both together. Lance was different.

A rustle and a soft snick as Lance closed his closet door. Something hit the bed with a jingle, and then Lance was pressing Keith’s chin up.

“You can open them,” he said.

Keith did. He stared into Lance’s blue eyes and pushed the bond as wide as it could go to show Lance how much Keith trusted him.

A twitch of an eyebrow was the only sign Lance noticed. Out loud, he said, “You remember the safeword?”

“Teludav.”

“Good,” Lance said, then stuffed a scarf into Keith’s mouth.

He had blindfolded and cuffed Keith before, but never gagged him. Lance liked to hear his grumblings and encouragements. This was different. Keith wanted different. He didn’t fight the gag as Lance tied it at the back of his head.

Lance tested the tightness with a finger. “Comfy?”

It wasn’t. The scarf went between his teeth and over his tongue like a bit and pulled the corners of his mouth back. He was already struggling to swallow without getting drool down his front. But it wasn’t unbearable, so Keith nodded.

Lance moved behind Keith and bound his wrists with a belt. Keith flexed his fingers and twisted his wrists. Again, not comfortable, but safe enough.

“Can you snap your fingers?” Lance asked. It took a few tries, but Keith managed it. “Okay. Snap once to slow down, twice to stop. Got it?”

Keith nodded again.

“Kneel on the bed.”

Keith managed without too much struggle. Lance took him by the shoulder and pressed him forward until Keith’s upper torso rested on the bed and his ass was in the air. Keith checked in with himself. Vague anxiety and curiosity skittered in his chest, but it was nothing that worried him. He watched Lance.

Lance, who sat on the bed and petted him before realizing this wasn’t supposed to be a reward. Keith waited.

“You can’t get it out of your head, can you?” Lance said.

Keith shifted so he could see Lance’s face instead of his knees. Lance was staring into the middle distance.

“All the what-ifs,” Lance continued. “What if you didn’t reach us in time. What if you got hurt in the shuttle explosion.” His voice dropped. “What if one of us had found you before you left.” His fingers found their way into Keith’s hair again. “That’s not the only thing bothering you, though. There’s a little tremor of insecurity running through the bond like a deep-sea vent. You say you could protect us by leaving, and maybe it’s true, but it’s not the reason you didn’t tell us.”

Keith watched Lance remain impassive. He could have been reciting from a textbook. Even Lance’s touches to Keith’s head were absentminded.

Keith listened to Lance talk about Keith’s fears and he trembled.

“I thought it was because we were—that I was—not important enough to tell. But it’s the opposite, isn’t?” Lance finally looked at Keith, who was wheezing into the bedsheets from being bent at such an odd angle. “You don’t believe you’re important enough to miss.”

Lance gripped Keith’s hair and tilted his head so Lance could see more of his face. Keith wasn’t sure what he looked like, but he was snuffling, and the scarf was chafing, and he was definitely drooling. Lance didn’t get off on humiliation. _Lance was different._

“Did you think we could let you go? Find a new pilot?” Small creases appeared between Lance’s brows, the first sign of emotion he’d shown since this began. “That’s what got you in trouble in the first place.”

Lance reached behind Keith to grab the jingly object he dropped earlier. He brought it around to show Keith. It was a short section of cord with tiny silver balls tied along the length: slave bells.

Lance softened a fraction. “You put bells on cats so you can find them. You try to sneak off? I’m going to make it harder.” And then Lance reached under Keith’s belly for—

He whined around the gag as Lance tied the slave bells around his cock and balls.

“Try getting out of that,” Lance said with a smirk.

Keith wiggled enough to make the bells jingle. Lance had tied them securely, but not as tight as a cock ring would be. Keith was aware of it as an annoyance more than anything.

Satisfied, Lance gripped Keith’s arms and hauled him upright. Keith felt disgusting. His spit had soaked the scarf through, and he tried to wipe his mouth on his shoulder, but Lance grabbed his chin. “Nuh uh, no hiding here.”

Keith whined. He could imagine how he looked. Tousled hair from a restless sleep, tired eyes, lips thinned by the scarf, saliva covering his chin, bruises from the shuttle explosion...he hated it. Lance thought he was pretty, and he liked being pretty. It was part of why he wore his collar so often. He saw Lance wore his matching cuff.

“When you accepted me as your Dom, you also accepted being my sub. Which means I get all of you, not only the parts you think I’ll want.” He tilted Keith’s chin back and forth as he inspected him. “You look a mess right now. Absolutely terrible.”

Keith’s eyes burned, but he kept them and the bond open.

“But you know what?” Lance said. “I’m still yours, and you’re still mine. Having to accept you are important and I’ll keep you no matter what is your punishment. That’s what you have to endure.”

The burning and prickling had spread over Keith’s face and down his chest. He should have known Lance would give him exactly what he needed and what he found hardest to deal with. Lance would keep talking and Keith would be forced to _sit there_ and _listen_ —

He was suddenly moving. Lance had wrapped his arms around Keith and pulled him to the edge of the bed. The scarf muffled Keith’s swearing, and he found himself draped over Lance’s legs facing the floor. How could he forget how strong Lance was?

Lance settled Keith across his knees. Keith knew it was coming, but still jumped when the first strike landed on his ass.

“You need to stop assuming you know what we’re thinking,” Lance said. Another strike. “So, I’m going to get you out of your head entirely.” Lance hit him again, rubbing the skin afterwards to make the blood rise to the surface. The slave bells jingled with each hit and twitch.

Keith was no stranger to spanking. He liked it and didn’t want it ruined with a negative association. If he had known it would be used in a punishment scene, he would have baulked. But this...

His skin burned. Lance was murmuring soft things Keith couldn’t make out. All he heard was the sharp slap of skin hitting skin and those damn bells. It should have been humiliating. He couldn’t get his feet under him, so they hung awkwardly off Lance’s thighs. Bound, gagged, thrashing like a fish, ugly—

And treasured. Keith couldn’t understand the words, but he felt it in the gentle touches following a strike. It was in the low tones of Lance’s voice. It was in the way Lance kept running a hand through Keith’s hair and over his collar.

Keith surrendered. He stopped fighting and went limp. Lance paused, sensing the change. “That’s it,” he said. He continued spanking Keith, and every strike was absolution. Keith’s world narrowed to endorphins and sensation and when Lance finally released him, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep wrapped in his Dom’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could blame someone for this, but even before people asked for a sequel, I had this plotted out. I just can't stay away from kink and angst.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter where everything falls to pieces.

Lance kept an eye on Keith, but Keith was more settled for the following few days than he had been in a long while. The night after the punishment scene, Keith had dragged Lance back to his room and edged him for so long, Lance saw stars when he finally came. They were good, and Lance relaxed.

The weird space mall Coran took them to created a sense of nostalgia for Lance, tinged a little with homesickness. It was like any other Earth mall with its crappy vintage stores, crowded food courts, and salesaliens hocking the latest ‘as seen on television’ wonder product. Even with the massive bruise he sported from slamming into that beam, it was some of the most fun he’d had in a long, long while.

He didn’t notice how blank the bond was until they were hanging out after they had instilled the new Teludav lenses.

“Keith,” Lance said from his supine position on the couch. “Are you all right? You’ve been quiet tonight, even for you.”

Keith jerked like Lance had startled him. He was sitting apart from the others reading on his datapad. Pidge was struggling to find adapter cords to fit her game console, and Hunk and Shiro were playing a card game that involved guessing what colour your opponent would put down next. “I’m fine,” Keith said. “Just tired from all the excitement, I guess.”

Shiro snorted. “You, tired from excitement? You thrive on chaos. And if there’s none around, you create some of your own.”

“Being in a crowd of aliens is different from being in a fight,” Keith said. On another day, it might have come out snappish, but now he sounded distracted.

Lance made a mental note to ask him about it in private and swept across the bond out of habit. He found it flat and smooth as a pond. Keith hadn’t winnowed it like he did when he was upset, but he was definitely trying to keep certain feelings out of Lance’s view.

He didn’t bother to hide his concern.

Keith had told Lance— _promised_ him—he wouldn’t keep secrets. The bond only provided so much. The first time Lance had a nightmare about the explosion that sent him into a coma, Keith had sent reassurance and comfort down the bond, but then also sat up all night with Lance talking about it. Pair-bonds still required trust and communication.

“Talk to me, pet,” Lance murmured one night while wrapped around his sub. He didn’t elaborate.

He felt Keith’s held breath. “Soon. Maybe. It’s something I need to find out for myself first. But I promise, once I have an answer, I’ll tell you.”

It was the best he could ask for. “Okay.”

&&&

“You’re sending Keith to go into the Blade base alone?” Lance stared at Shiro. “You’re kidding.”

“You don’t think I can handle it?” Keith said, equal parts irritated and uncertain.

“No, of course that’s not it, idiot,” Lance snapped. “I’m worried because you’re going in unarmed against unknown numbers with no backup, and you’re flying between _a black hole and a supernova._ ” He threw up his hands. “Why does it have to be you?”

Shiro cut in when Keith opened his mouth. “The Red Lion is the only one that can withstand those kinds of temperatures, and Keith’s the most skilled at flying it. We have no other choice.” He stepped close to Lance and murmured, “I know it’s difficult, but we’ve faced worse before. He’ll be okay.”

“The first sign of trouble, you get out of there,” Lance said. Then he stalked over to Keith, who was preemptively raising his hackles. “And you,” Lance said, pointing at him, “you don’t let anyone stop you.”

Keith blinked, but didn’t speak as Lance continued.

“If things go squirrelly, you take your crazy hobo knife and start slicing. Do. Not. Stop. Until you are safe. Got it?” He wanted to shove his worry and frustration and fear at Keith. He wanted to make Keith understand how much this was costing Lance. But instead, he filled the bond will pride and trust and confidence in his sub.

Lance also resisted pulling Keith in for a kiss or an embrace. They were soldiers in this moment, so Lance gripped Keith’s forearm and met his steady gaze.

“Got it,” Keith said.

Shiro put a hand on his shoulder. “We have to go,” he said, “if only to keep Hunk from breaking down entirely.”

They turned towards their team members, where both Hunk and Coran were leaning into each other holding back tears, and Pidge was telling Allura it was a guy thing and not to worry about it. Although she also was a little shiny-eyed.

“You guys are the best pair-bond I’ve ever met,” Hunk warbled.

“Good grief,” Keith muttered.

“Yeah, you better head out,” Lance said. He grinned wildly at Keith, who matched it. This was what they both loved: chaos and adventure.

Shiro and Keith left with little fanfare. Allura stood beside Lance as he watched the Red Lion grow smaller in the distance.

“Lance, I must ask a favour of you.” She had on her warrior’s face. Determined. Steely. “I want you to monitor Keith through your bond. Can you do that?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll watch it. If he’s in trouble, I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you.”

Waiting proved to be harder than Lance expected. The bond held tension and stress and a touch of fear, none of which concerned Lance until the first burst of pain shattered his head. Hunk came to his side when Lance groaned.

“What happened?”

“It’s Keith,” he said between clenched teeth. “He’s fighting.”

“The Blade is attacking?” Allura looked ready to start another war.

“No, it’s weird. It feels like—” _Like battle._ Like when they were in the lions. “He wants to be fighting. He’s choosing to.” He looked up at Allura.

She frowned, considering. “We haven’t had a distress signal from Keith or Shiro. We’ll hold our position until we know for sure they need assistance.”

When the Red Lion attacked the base, the rest of them were ready to go in guns blazing. Lance was losing his mind with worry, feeling Keith grow steadily wearier until a small bright spot of triumph burst out. “He’s safe,” Lance said, his voice ragged.

“The Red Lion is returning,” Coran said.

Between the Red Lion going full-on mama bear and Allura preparing to drive the whole goddamn castleship into the hidden base, Lance barely had time to examine the dark spot of dread seeping through Keith’s side of the bond. It grew stronger the closer the Red Lion flew, and Lance couldn’t ignore the swirling emotions coming through the bond. Fear, worry, confusion, pain—what the hell happened over there?

Three Blade members came off the lion with the paladins. Shiro seemed fine, if tense, but Keith had to lean on the other man for support. Blood still oozed from a wound in his shoulder. He looked shell shocked.

Lance wanted to severely injure whoever did this to his sub, but he was a soldier. He would follow Allura’s lead.

An unmasked Galra stepped forward. “Your young paladin performed our trials admirably. Only a true Galran warrior can unlock the full potential of our blades.”

Silence.

“Galran?” Allura said in a small voice that still echoed around the hanger. Keith kept staring at the floor and Shiro was grim.

“Our members sometimes pass their blades on to their descendants,” the Galra explained, unaware of or ignoring the shock in the room.

“What does that mean?” Hunk said.

“It means—” Keith’s voice was a rasp. “It means I’m not fully human.” He lifted his head and stared at Lance. “I’m Galran.”

Murmurs of shock and surprise erupted behind him, but all Lance heard was a buzzing in his head as the pieces fell into place. Keith’s obsession with the knife, his secrecy, his support of the Blade.

_Screw being a soldier._

He walked forward, Keith watching him like a wounded animal. Everyone had gone quiet. Lance didn’t stop until he wrapped his arms around Keith in a gentle embrace, mindful of his injuries. “I got him,” he said to Shiro.

They shuffled off together, Lance taking as much of Keith’s weight as Keith allowed, and left the hanger in silence.

&&&

Everything hurt. When Keith realized they were going to the med bay, he opened his mouth to say something. What came out was, “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.” Lance’s words were clipped and flat.

Keith brushed against the bond and ran into a wall. Lance’s eyes cut to him and away, and the bond shifted. The wall became a glass pane; Lance’s emotions were a desert storm raging miles away, and the distance rendered the lightning silent and harmless.

“Lance, talk to me.”

“We need to get you to a healing pod.”

“Do you even know how to work those? We should wait for Coran—”

“No.” Lance shook his head sharply. “No, I need to do this. You’re mine.”

“I’m sorry,” Keith said again.

Lance gritted his teeth. “You’re _mine._ ” His eyes were blazing as he looked at Keith. “All of me and all of you, remember? I don’t—I don’t _care_ what you are: sub, Dom, human, Galra, cowboy, mermaid, _I don’t care._ ”

Silence as they went. An occasional _drip-drip_ of blood.

“Do you think.” Keith tested a tender spot on his cheek. “Do you think it affected the bond?”

Lance slowed, forcing Keith to stop. “What?” Lance said, more breath than voice.

“Maybe it’s why you got me instead of a proper sub, why I don’t submit as I should...” His words dried up at the hollow look on Lance’s face.

“You think we’re broken?”

That stabbed into Keith harder than the drone blades. “I—”

“You think you’re not _good enough_ for me? That I should have, what, some meek pet who stayed at my feet?” His breath turned shallow even as he struggled to keep control. “And about you? Did you—were you hoping for something _better?_ ” He swallowed. “A stronger Dom?”

“Lance, no. No.” Keith swayed as he stepped in front of Lance, but stayed on his feet. “But I don’t want you to suffer because of me. Of what I am.”

Lance’s eyes were very wide and very blue. “I never thought I got short-changed, Keith. Never.” He broke the stare and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Let’s get to the med bay.”

&&&

After Lance put Keith in the healing pod, he slunk away to Hunk’s room and shivered in a corner of the bunk while Hunk swaddled him in blankets. Thank god Hunk was so used to taking care of him, both as a Dom and as a friend. Keith would be out of the pod in a few hours and Lance had to pull himself together by then. He spent the first twenty minutes wallowing in the knee-jerk reaction of _he doesn’t want me, he’ll reject the bond_ that had screamed through him, then told Hunk what had happened. It helped his panic, but not his concern, when he realized Keith was also worried about rejection and had given Lance an out like the self-sacrificing moron he was.

Hunk then updated him on what happened after he left. Allura had taken the news of Keith’s background hard and, while she didn’t banish the Blade members, she dismissed them and sequestered herself on the bridge. Coran had followed, leaving just Pidge and Hunk for Shiro to fill in.

“I don’t know, man,” Hunk said, rubbing his face. “Yeah, Ulaz saved us from the robeast, but these guys just let Keith nearly kill himself with their trials. They say they’ve been fighting for over a thousand years or whatever, but we’ve heard nothing about them. There’s been more chatter about Pidge’s brother than these guys.”

“You think they’re lying?” Lance asked.

Hunk tipped his head in thought. “They’re either so stealthy the empire never knew it was them, or they’re the worst resistance fighters I’ve ever seen.”

Lance barked out a laugh despite himself. “Good point.” He hugged his knees, tucking himself more deeply into Hunk’s blanket nest. “It’d be nice to have someone on our side for once.” He rubbed his leather cuff. It had grown soft and pliable from wear. “What about Keith?”

Hunk blinked. “What about him? Keith is Keith. This won’t make him less of a paladin, or less of our friend.” He paused. “Allura might have to take some time. It’s like finding out you’re friends with the kid of a serial killer.”

“But only Blade members have that knife. That means—”

“I know, I know, but think about it. Galra live way longer than humans, and we don’t know how long Keith’s mother was in the resistance. Maybe before, she was a soldier. We don’t know.” Hunk looked him in the eye. “The Galra have hurt a lot of people, Lance. It’s going to take a while for people to see them as anything other than a force of destruction. Let Allura and Coran work through it in their own time.”

Lance slumped sideways into Hunk’s shoulder. “How did this become so complicated?”

“We’re in a space war surrounded by aliens. I don’t think anything’s going to be simple again.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Throws myself on the sacrificial Arusian fire*

If Lance couldn’t be with Keith on the Weblum mission, then Hunk was the next best thing. At the Garrison, Hunk had been the go-to person for sub-Dom problems that people were too embarrassed to take to the student counsellor. As a switch, Hunk had already dealt with his share of identity anxiety. Hunk would treat Keith to some of his patented blunt-force honesty. And Keith needed it.

Just as Keith needed to be away from Allura for the moment.

Keith hadn’t been able to hide the stab of rejection at Allura’s aloofness towards him. As it slipped through the bond, Lance tamped down his instinctual response— _protect, soothe, help_ —and waited for Keith's reaction. Keith didn’t approach him, and it turned out that Lance had to deal with some unspoken insecurities of his own first, thanks to an hour with an alien dog-bear.

He had seen Dom posturing firsthand. His peers were always going on about how Doms were sure and confident no matter the situation. It plagued him and exacerbated his natural self-doubts. In etiquette classes, others would talk about how well-trained their subs would be. No brattiness or backtalk, just trust and obedience. That only accepted sub behaviour equalled trust was a toxic correlation, and it led to thinking any deviation had to be tamped down and trained out. And not only in scenes.

But Shiro didn't do that. None of the subs and Doms doing demos did that. It was just the unbonded young bucks who would have no idea what to do if a new sub dropped into their lap. It gave Lance hope that maybe he could still be a good Dom even if he was a soft one. Keith, surprisingly, had helped by pushing back and questioning. Keith didn’t fear rejection or punishment. When he finally submitted to Lance, it showed that Lance was worthy of Keith’s trust. Lance grew more confident in himself and his skills and pushed at Keith’s buttons in return.

All of that insecurity came rushing back during their mission at Beta Traz.  _Not a real Dom, not a real paladin, not a real hero._  Approval from Shiro went a long way, but Lance still wanted to curl up with his sub and feel  _right_  again.

Too bad Keith was having his own meltdown when they returned to the castleship.

Hunk intercepted Lance after they got Slav settled in with Coran—and steered Shiro away from the source of his PTSD-freak-out trigger. “Keith was fine on the mission.” Hunk shrugged. “He bottles a lot of stuff up, though.”

Lance rubbed his hand over his face. He was so tired. “Yeah, okay. You should check on Shiro. That prison was pretty hard on him.”

He found Keith in the equipment room aggressively scrubbing Weblum goo off his armour.

As soon as he entered, Lance started talking. “Hey, Hunk told me you guys had a crazy mission. He sounded weirdly happy to get farted out by some laser-blasting space worm, but that’s Hunk for you. And you found a person in there? What was that about?”

Keith paused, but didn’t look up. “It was a successful mission. That’s what really matters.”

Lance tried a different tack.“So now you have your bayard and your Blade sword. You really are a samurai.”

Keith sighed. His head was bent so his hair hid his face. “Why are you here, Lance?”

Lance winced at the broken tone in Keith’s voice. “You’re in pain.”

Putting the chest plate to the side, Keith stood up. He was tired and worn and angry. “You don’t always have to fix everything. You  _can’t_  fix this. You can’t fix me.”

Annoyance flared in Lance’s chest. “You don’t need fixing.”

Keith barked a laugh. “Then why is everything different? Nothing is the same anymore.”

Lance took a chance and a step closer. “Hunk is the same. He didn’t treat you differently, right? I haven’t treated you differently.”

“Allura does.” Keith’s mask broke and his lips pulled back in a snarl. “She can’t even look at me anymore. Like I’m a sleeper agent that will betray you with the right trigger.”

_You_ , not  _us_. “No one thinks that.”

But Keith wasn’t listening. “My mother didn't train me for intergalactic espionage. Mom  _left_. Dad  _died_. I was an orphan and  _they never came for me._ ” Keith shoved his knife hilt-first at Lance. The Blade of Marmora symbol glowed. “What does  _that_  tell you about how much I matter to them?”

Lance’s impulse was to cuddle and comfort, but Keith’s side of the bond was full of thorns. He stayed back. “How old were you when your mom left?”

“Young. Too young to remember her.” He screwed up his face. “We didn’t even have pictures. I thought it was because my dad was angry with her, but now...I have no idea.” The smile he gave Lance was a mockery. “Do you think aliens follow that old saying of having a sub in every port?”

It was a horrible thing to say, but it twigged something for Lance. “What about your dad’s bonded? Could it be her?”

“How can she be? She was a fucking alien.” Keith was shaking. “And she left, she left for years. I left you for a few hours and it nearly killed me.” He paced the room. “I don’t know anything, Lance. I don’t know if she was my dad’s bonded, I don’t know if he abandoned his real bonded, I don’t know if there’s a Domme out there who should have been my mother. And I  _never will_.” He lashed out, kicking a wheeled table covered in delicate metal tools. It rattled across the floor and bounced off the wall.

Lance took a deep breath.

No, he couldn’t fix this. This was too big and too complex for any one person to help with. But he could help with this moment here and now. He stalked up to Keith and pulled him around to face Lance. “What—” Keith started.

Lance wrapped his hands around Keith’s throat. Keith froze. His pulse was frantic under Lance’s palms, exposed as it was without the collar.

“Calm down,” Lance said in his best Dom voice. “Concentrate on this.” He squeezed lightly. The sharp intake of air from Keith sent yellow lightning coursing through Lance.

Slowly, Keith’s pulse calmed. Lance slid his hands down Keith’s arms to his wrists. “Now, feel this.” He lifted Keith’s hands and placed them around his own neck.

Keith’s eyes widened, but he didn’t move. His throat clicked as he swallowed. “What is this?”

“This is me treating you differently,” Lance said. “This is me still trusting you. This is me not leaving.” His mouth quirked up, breaking the mood. “And this is me trying to fix things I have no business in.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“I know. But you’re still right.” He pressed Keith’s palms into his skin. The threat of danger sent an interesting thrill down his spine. “Let me try this one time?”

Keith stared at him, partner to partner, then nodded.

Lance reached out and pushed his thumb into the pressure point above Keith’s collarbone. Keith winced away from it and Lance kept up the pressure, forcing Keith down to his knees. Lance rarely dominated him so forcefully, or so physically, but he needed Keith to listen to him and he needed Keith in that space  _now_.

Luckily, Keith was receptive. He stared up at Lance, waiting for instructions.

“I want you to get your collar and wait for me in my room. Naked, dressed, I don’t care, but you’ll be there until I come for you. And I  _will_  come for you. Got it?”

Keith’s eyes were still glassy, and his mouth still drawn, but he nodded. “Yes, Lance.”

“Good. I have something I gotta do.”

&&&

Lance headed to find Allura.

She was in the holodeck. The projected environment was a vast meadow covered with small white flowers. Kaltenecker grazed in the distance, swishing her tail at nonexistent flies. Lance shook his head to dispel any Dom headspace before it interfered with what he had to do. He knelt next to Allura, letting her adjust to his presence.

“They destroyed everything,” she said in a hollow voice.

“I know,” said Lance.

“I wasn’t even there. I couldn’t bear witness. My planet—my people died without me.”

He ran his hands through the delicate flowers. “Allura, nothing I say can tell you how deeply sorry I am about that. I can’t begin to—I miss Earth, but it’s still there. If anything happened to it or the people I love, I don’t know if anything could stop me. So, I guess I’m trying to say I get where you’re coming from.”

Allura turned to him with a stricken expression. “He attempted to talk to me about it. Keith, I mean.” She fisted her hands in her robes. “When we ran away. He asked if I truly thought all Galra were evil. And I was so angry at them that I said yes.” She looked back down at the flowers in her lap. “I told my friend he was evil simply due to the circumstances of his birth.”

Lance said nothing.

“I know what the others think,” Allura continued. “What you must think. That I don’t trust him, or that I hate him.” Her hand darted out and grasped Lance’s so fast he jerked in surprise. She didn’t let go. “Lance, when we learned that Keith was half-Galra, I was  _heartbroken_. I feared they would tempt him away to teach him about his heritage.”

“Would they do that?” he asked. “Take in someone who was half-Galra?”

She lifted her free hand in a helpless shrug. “The species has mixed with others before. Rarely now, but it was common. Even...even Zarkon courted an Altean.” She shook her head. “Galra guard their treasures jealously and if they got Keith—” She broke off. Lance could see the moment her diplomacy training took over. “Our friend would join with our enemy. It would be a devastating blow to us.”

“Princess,” Lance said carefully, “this will take time for everyone to get used to. And it might be hard, but you really need to talk to Keith. Tell him what you told me. Right now, he’s pretty lost. He thinks he’s a monster.”

She looked at him. “How can I face him after how I’ve behaved? I can’t—” She wiped at her eyes. “It’s cowardly, but I need time. And perhaps Keith would appreciate some space as well.”

“I’ll look after him.” Lance squeezed her hand. “Just remember that you guys still have a lot in common.” At her questioning glance, he said with a smile, “You’re both self-sacrificing idiots.”

Her laugh was watery, but there. “Thank you, Lance. And I promise I will talk to Keith. I need to make this right.”

“I know you will. For now, I’ll make sure he’s okay.”

&&&

Keith sat on Lance’s bed cross-legged with his hands folded in his lap. He had initially stripped down to his boxers, but the post-breakdown crash left him chilled. So, he wrapped himself in one of Lance’s robes, slipped on his collar, and waited.

He hated waiting. It was a waste when he could be doing anything else, like planning, or training, or even resting. Waiting kept him keyed up with nowhere to go.

But Lance was coming back, and Keith had to wait for him.

He hoped it would be soon. The repercussions from the Blade trials were still a pressure in his temples, and he wanted to forget everything he had learned. He should have thrown that stupid knife into an ocean on a faraway planet the first chance he got. It would have saved him a lot of heartache and misery.

Maybe it would have been inevitable. The way Zarkon toyed with him, and the way Keith could interact with the Galra tech—it would have come out, eventually. He hugged his arms tighter around himself as he imagined Zarkon and Haggar laughing at the righteous Voltron unknowingly working with an ignorant Galra.

Being with Hunk had helped, but then Keith had blown up at Lance. He felt as much an outsider as he did before. He needed to not think and be told he could handle this. And, as much as it galled him, he couldn’t do that alone.

The door slid open and Lance shuffled inside. For the first time, Keith noticed how exhausted Lance appeared.  _And I keep demanding more from him_.

“I waited,” Keith said, unsure what Lance planned.

Lance blinked at Keith wrapped in the blue robe and the corner of his mouth quirked up. “Good. I knew you would.”

“What did you have to do?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lance flopped onto the bed and curled his body around Keith. “Nothing will happen until morning.”

Keith glanced at the digital display in the corner of the bunk. “It’s three in the afternoon.”

“Is it? Shit, my sleep cycle is more messed up than I thought.” He rested his cheek on Keith’s knee. “Did you know Coran set the castle to a 25-hour clock? Or at least the equivalent in vargas. He said it was the optimal time period for the human circadian rhythm. Don’t know how he found  _that_  out. It wasn’t by observing us. Hunk could sleep for England, and I think Shiro just recharges like a phone.”

Despite the turmoil still in his chest, Keith smiled. “You’re one to talk. You slept through the first alarm we had on this ship.” He gently ran his fingers through Lance’s hair. “That pissed me off so much. We had had the most stressful day of our lives and then you stroll in as if you spent a weekend at a spa. You were irritatingly handsome.”

Lance hummed, eyes closed. “I knew you were jealous of the face masks.”

Keith paused. “What—what about half-humans? What sleep cycle is best for them?”

Rolling so that his head rested in Keith’s lap, Lance looked up at him. “I'm not sure. But Coran would love to help you figure that out.”

Keith broke, staring down at this soft, kind boy who chose to love him. “Lance, I’m sorry about earlier. This must be as hard on you as everyone else, and I didn’t even think—”

“Shh.” Lance reached up and cupped Keith’s nape over the clasp of the collar. “No one expects you to be okay right away. You’re stressed, and that does crazy stuff to a body.” His soft smile turned wicked. “Want to do other crazy stuff to your body?” Without warning, he surged up and flipped Keith over. “Told you I’d give you something to come home for,” Lance said as he leaned over the other boy.

“Oh,” was all Keith could say.

Lance kissed him, taking his time to make sure Keith was entirely focused. “I’ve been waiting for an excuse to use these. And a self-indulgent, forget-about-the-world type of scene is just the trick. Whaddaya say?” Lance’s side of the bond was full of trust and patience and a healthy dose of lust, but he waited until Keith opened up to let it fill the connection between them.

Keith ran his thumb along Lance’s bottom lip. “‘These’?”

Rolling off the bed and landing with an unfair amount of grace, Lance pulled open a drawer. He reappeared with a fistful of belts.

Keith’s mouth went dry.

Lance had told Keith of his bondage fantasy. “Belts, not rope,” he had said. “There’s something reassuring about a broad piece of leather holding you together. It’s like a kinky hug.” So, Keith had scoured the castleship and pilfered every belt he could find. He had also ignored Shiro’s pointed look the next day when Coran blamed the missing belts on the mice.

He and Lance had used one or two at a time before. But Lance had pulled out  _all_  of them.

His face was equal parts endearing and mischievous. “Ready, pet?”

Keith nodded.

&&&

Lance stood over the frankly lovely work of art he had made of Keith. A belt looped around each leg in a figure-eight so Keith couldn’t straighten them. His arms were bound behind him, hands gripping each elbow, with belts snaking over his shoulders holding them in place like slings. More belts crisscrossed his chest and hooked into the thigh loops. Keith was stuck, no matter how much he struggled.

And boy, did he struggle. He tested the limits of each belt as it was put on. The creak of leather was doing terrible things to Lance’s self-control.

He flipped the Marmora blade in his hand. “I’ll keep this close in case we have to cut you out.”

Keith rolled his shoulders. “Hate to damage the belts.”

“Hate to damage you more.” Lance set the knife to the side. He had half-considered gagging Keith as well—taking away any aspect of control—but the punishment scene was too recent. Best to put some distance between each scene if Lance wanted to do that again.

He ran a hand down Keith’s thigh, watching the muscles tense. God, his sub was glorious. Always fighting, always pushing. It made Keith’s submission that much more sublime.

“Any requests before we get started?” Lance teased.

Keith watched him with hazy eyes. “I want to come.”

“Won’t be a problem, pet.” Lance kissed Keith’s knee, then worked his way down towards Keith’s hip. Keith bucked under him as Lance sucked a hickey into the soft skin below his navel. “Now, what are you?”

Keith frowned, but Lance hadn’t set any conditions of failure. He was interested in what Keith would say.

A twist of the mouth. “Galra.”

“Granted.” Lance kissed his stomach again. “And?”

“Human, I guess.”

Another kiss. “And?”

“Paladin?”

Kiss. “And?”

“Submissive.”

Lance was very close to Keith’s half-hard cock. “And? Come on, love, you can do it.”

Keith’s answer was barely louder than a whisper. “Yours.”

“Ding, ding, ding, and the boy’s done it. Very good.” Lance grinned at Keith’s flushed face, then swallowed down his whole length in one go.

Keith had a shockingly dirty mouth when he was taken by surprise, and Lance loved it.

Tapping into the endless patience that existed only in these moments, Lance moved slowly. He ignored Keith’s grumblings and waited until they faded into groans. Sex was the rare time Keith allowed himself to be greedy, and even then, Lance had to break down Keith’s reservations that said  _you can’t have this, you don’t deserve this_. Lance would happily blow him until his jaw seized up if it meant Keith could relax and submerse himself in sensation.

While Lance teased with his mouth, his hand drifted lower to the sensitive stretch of skin under Keith’s balls. Keith keened and jerked, unsure which one to chase more.

Outside of scenes, Keith could be generous, or aggressive, or goofy, something Lance didn’t even think was possible. A sexy, silly Keith was a rare and wonderful creature, and Lance died a little inside at how lucky he was to witness it. But during scenes like this, Lance wanted Keith to be aware of his pleasure only, to forget about Lance. Lance could take care of himself. Could take care of them both, actually.

He pulled off of Keith’s cock to say, “I want to fuck you.”

A high-pitched keen was his answer as Keith fruitlessly chased after Lance’s mouth. Keith lay panting for a moment, then pushed against the belts to draw attention to his splayed legs. “Not like I could stop you. Or want to.”

Lance nipped Keith’s inner thigh. “Brat. Don’t play power games here. That requires way too much brainpower. I want you to relax.” He slipped his fingers lower, and Keith arched his back into it. “Sound good?”

Keith’s chest rose and fell. A flush worked its way down his skin. "Yes."

Lance rose up and kissed Keith, letting him taste his own saltiness. “You don’t have to do anything, pet. Tell me if I need to slow down.”

Keith nuzzled him. “Feel precious,” he mumbled.

“You are precious.” Lance kissed him once more, then leaned over to grab the lube.

Getting the lube had been a mortifying experience due to Hunk’s utterly shameless approach to explaining human anatomy to shop vendors. Eventually, Hunk had parked Lance outside the store while he found something compatible with humans. The lube Hunk had returned with was lilac-coloured and smelled like spearmint. It even left a soft little tingle on the skin.

Sending a silent thanks to Hunk, Lance slicked up his fingers. 

He worked open Keith slowly as much to torment him as to make it safe. Keith vacillated between gasping, bitten-off curses and dazed silence. Lance kissed him the whole time, and when he wasn’t kissing him, Lance was mouthing at Keith’s skin and the creaking leather.

“How’re you doing?” Lance said.

Keith struggled to focus on Lance. He nodded, voice lost.

“Still want to come?” Lance said with a smirk. Keith growled in warning. “That’s my boy,” Lance laughed. He pulled Keith into position under him and braced himself on the bed. He nosed at Keith’s collar. “Want to give you everything, love. Want you to be greedy for me.”

“Lance.” Keith’s voice was small and broken. He chewed his lip. “Please.”

The begging, slight though it was, spurred Lance on.

Neither of them was a virgin when they met. With the unpredictability of when the bond clarified, nobody was expected to wait for their bonded to show up. Taking part in demos was encouraged to have a safe and controlled environment to test out kinks. Plus, having a dormitory full of hormone-fueled unbonded in the Garrison led to all sorts of shenanigans. There had been more than a few nights before he found Keith where Lance was kept awake by his sub’s excitement and arousal.  _Good_ , he would send down the bond.  _You deserve it_.

This wasn’t new. This shouldn’t have been new. But the first push into Keith’s body overwhelmed Lance’s mind and threatened to undo him completely. A long, low moan came from Keith as Lance slowly worked himself deeper. 

When he bottomed out, he paused. Keith stared up at him, and Lance felt the muscles twitch around his cock, almost experimentally. “Good?” Lance whispered. The bond was full of kaleidoscope colours.

Keith stretched to kiss Lance. “I want everything.”

_Amazing_. “That I can do.”

Lance had bound Keith as much as possible, but he still had a fair amount of mobility. His hips bucked against Lance as Lance rocked into him. His knees squeezed Lance tighter to him. His back arched as Lance drove into the sweet spot over and over.

Keith was a writhing, incoherent mess, and it was a dream come true.

So, of course, Lance started laughing.

The world had shrunk down to them and this moment. The stress and fatigue fell away and Lance could finally have the joy of pleasing his sub. Keith blinked, shocked out of his haze, then grinned. “Enjoying the show?” he said, ever the brat.

“God, never change,” Lance said. A sharp snap of his hips cut off Keith’s retort, and Lance braced himself on Keith’s knees. “Do you know how lucky I am? Everyone else gets a regular old human sub, and I get a gorgeous half-alien who can take out a dozen Blade androids on his own. Oh, yeah,” he added with a grin, “I definitely made Shiro tell me about that. You have to keep one-upping everyone, huh? Making sure there’s no way in hell I’d ever consider anyone else. As if they could even measure up.”

Keith’s gaze sharpened, caught between the sincerity and casual delivery of Lance’s words. “I didn’t do it— _fuck_ —on purpose.”

“I know.” Lance couldn’t look away from those dark eyes. He wanted his hands all over Keith, his mouth all over him, he wanted to bury himself so deep in Keith that nothing could tear them apart. “That’s what makes you fantastic.” He leaned back, changing the angle, and Keith lost his mind.

“Please, Lance,” Keith gasped. “Need you, I’m close, need you, need you—”

Lance took hold of Keith’s cock, and Keith nearly sobbed. “That’s it, love, let go.”

Caught between Lance fucking him and jerking him off, Keith didn’t last long. Cum streaked up his body and over the belts.  _Good thing leather is easy to clean_. Seeing Keith lose control pushed Lance over the edge. He fucked hard into Keith and latched his teeth Keith’s shoulder as he came.

It was a moment of unreality. Never had he been so lost in Keith. He gripped the belts across Keith’s chest and they grounded him as much as his sub. Aftershocks rocked his frame as Keith nuzzled at the top of his head.

At last, they both calmed enough to come back to themselves. Lance laughed as he pulled away. No matter how much kink experience you had, the reality of clean-up always brought you back down to earth. He undid the belts, checking for friction burns, then helped Keith wipe himself down.

“Why am I always the one getting painted?” he grumbled.

“Because you take it so well.” Lance kissed the tip of Keith’s nose, making him both blush and roll his eyes. “That’s what I love about you.”

Keith gave him an incredulous stare. “Did you seriously say you love me because of  _a cum shot?_ ”

“What?” Lance blinked.  _Oh._  He hadn’t said it before. He used “love” as a pet name and was free with his affections over the bond, but hadn’t thought about saying it until now. He pushed up to face Keith. “I love you.” It was simple. It was what he needed.

Keith eyed him, debating whether to take Lance seriously. He softened. “I love you, too.”

“Good,” Lance said with a huge smile. They lay together in silence for long minutes breathing in each other.

“You’re good, you know,” Keith blurted.

“At what?”

“At this.” He sat up to wave at the pile of belts at the foot of the bed. “At being a Dom. And I’m not saying that as in, ‘you’re good for me and my emotionally crippled needs.’ You’re a good Dom, period.” He dropped his gaze and rubbed his hands together. “When you came back with Slav, I knew something was wrong. The bond was glassy and—” He made a vague gesture that encompassed his whole head. “All over the place.”

Lance hummed. He appreciated hearing that, especially from Keith, but they didn’t need to go over this again. They would spin in endless circles reassuring each other. He grabbed Keith around his waist and pulled him down before he could continue. “Don’t worry about it. That’s what this was about. What I needed was seeing you enjoy yourself. And I hope I could help you, too.”

Keith slowly relaxed into Lance’s side. “There’s still a lot. But I don’t want to think about it right now. So yeah, you helped with that.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop needing you,” Lance said.

To his surprise, Keith laughed. “Good.” He wrapped himself around his Dom, making Lance the little spoon. “Because you’re stuck with me.”

&&&

The next afternoon, Keith was attempting to read progress reports from the Balmerans and Olkari, but kept zoning out whenever he shifted. His hips were sore from being held in position for so long. Even remembering why made his muscles twitch.

"Keith?" Allura appeared in the doorway of the common room. He froze, uncertain if he was doing anything suspicious, then got annoyed at his reaction.

Her hair was down, making her appear younger and more vulnerable.  _A diplomat, not a warrior_. She smoothed her hands over her robes. “Are you busy?”

“No,” he said, putting the datapad aside. “Do you need something?” His voice sounded brittle. He cleared his throat.

She glanced down. “I would like to talk to you. In private, if possible.”

Ignoring the fist that formed in his stomach, Keith said, “Okay.”

She led him to the holodeck and invited Keith to create the environment. The room ended up as an open scrubland; barren and perhaps a little lonely, but without boundaries. Keith filed the significance of that away for later.

He recognized how she was trying to put him at ease. It didn’t relax the knot in his stomach. “What is this about?”

“I believe Hunk called it ‘an olive branch,’” she said. “I need to make amends. I can explain my reasons all I want, but it does not excuse me for putting my fears over my knowledge of my friend.” Keith was silent as Allura met his eyes. “Will you allow me to apologize?”

It would be easier to stay angry. He could put a label on himself and then fight against it.  _Galra. Warmonger. Enemy._

He shifted, kicking at a pebble by his feet. “Lance said you mentioned there were others like me?” He swallowed. “Half-Galra?”

Sweeping her robes under her, Allura sat on a boulder. “Yes, I have met several people of mixed species, including Galra. I do not know if they stood with Zarkon when the war started.” She sighed and toyed with her sleeve. “Even if I had that knowledge, it should not have mattered. I reacted poorly towards you, and then I was ashamed to approach you afterwards.”

Keith sat beside her. “Yeah, that was bad. And it sucked. I could talk to Lance or Shiro about it, and they didn’t care about my past. But. Allura, you know this stuff better than any of us ever could and...” He wrapped his arms around himself. “And you weren’t there. I couldn’t talk to the Blade of Marmora, or my dad, or—or my mom. I needed someone to say that I was still me.”

He looked up to see Allura’s eyes were shiny. “I am so sorry, Keith. I had no idea you were struggling like this. Of course you are still you.” Shaking her head, she said, “I should have realized; Earth is still isolated. You would have no coping mechanism for learning you were mixed species.” She straightened, dashing the tears away. “No use wallowing. Perhaps I can still help. I studied the Galra culture as it used to be if you want to talk about that. Explain that they were not always as you see them now. It might give you some closure.”

“Maybe.” He blew out a harsh breath. “I have so many questions. I don’t know where to begin. I don’t even understand why she came to Earth in the first place. The Galra consider themselves the best in the universe. Why would they intermix at all, let alone with humans? We must seem so primitive.”

She traced one pointed ear, a habit she had when she was thinking. “The Galra were always a proud race. They were innovative and resourceful. Maybe humans fascinated your mother enough for her to stay. You more than fascinate me. I’ve never met a people who bond the way you do.” Her mouth curved into a smile. “It would intrigue any enterprising species.”

Keith snorted despite himself. “Enterprising is one way of putting it.”

“Perhaps.” Allura paused and ducked her head. “Perhaps we could learn from each other. It can’t explain your mother’s reasons for staying on Earth or leaving it, but if I can help you understand the Galran culture in any, I will.” She held out her hand. “Will you teach me about your human heritage in return?”

It was an offering. A way to bridge the rift that had formed between them, and within Keith. Learning about the Galra from ten thousand years ago might not explain the actions of one from barely two decades ago, but Keith didn’t want to throw away this opportunity.

Keith took Allura’s hand and shook it once. “It’s a deal.”

“Thank you, Keith.” She beamed at him.

He cleared his throat. “What would you like to know?”

To his surprise, she blushed. “Lance explained how humans form pair-bonds based on psychic compatibility, but there appears to be more to it than that.” She glanced away. “I have...observed some things that appear as injurious, but may be perfectly natural to a human.”

Keith touched his collar. “You mean the sub-Dom relationship.”

She met his eyes, steeling herself as if going into battle. “Tell me as much as you’re comfortable with, but please don’t shy away because of some misguided attempt to protect my sensibilities.” The disdain she held in her voice told Keith that someone had tried that before and likely failed. Miserably. “I’ve heard the others speaking of Dominants and subservients—”

“Submissives,” Keith corrected.

“I apologize. You’ll forgive me if the connotations of your titles do not, well...”

“Match our personalities?” Keith said with a small smile. 

“Indeed.”

Keith scratched the back of his head. He tried to remember how it was explained in the early days of his etiquette classes. “It doesn’t really have much to do with personality. I’ve met overbearing subs and meek Doms. It’s more to do with how you relate to others in specific settings.” He took in her earnest expression. “Do you know what settings I mean?”

“I believe you mean mating.”

Keith choked and fell into a coughing fit. “Yeah,” he said when he could speak again. “That’s pretty much dead on.”

She bit back a grin. “Alteans may not be as hedonistic as other species, but we recognize the importance of physical needs.”

He tried to get back on track. This was not how he envisioned his day going. “Okay, so, outside of...mating, humans also perform scenes. That’s where the sub-Dom relationship is most visible.” He touched his collar again. “Outside of scenes, this tells people I’m bonded and what role I have in the relationship. Some people are more comfortable if they know others will treat them as a Dom or sub, and to some, it doesn’t matter. But when we’re in a scene...” Keith trailed off as he remembered a particular one a week ago.

Lance had clipped a pair of handcuffs to the collar and made Keith solve an alien puzzle box while hobbled. Keith was convinced that Lance wanted to watch him fail, but Lance kept encouraging him. Eventually, Keith figured out he had to use his feet to hold the box, and Lance rewarded him with...well. The point was it forced Keith to create a different way to get the job done. “A Dom helps ground a sub, and a sub allows a Dom to focus on something outside themselves. Those needs can express themselves in very different ways. They don’t always seem pleasant from the outside.”

“You mean pain.” Allura looked serious, but not disgusted.

He dipped his head. “Yes. Subs usually find pain to be clarifying or challenging. It’s something to conquer and come out the other side knowing you can handle it. Others prefer denial, humiliation, objectification, bondage—”

Allura held up a hand, stopping him. “I think I understand.” She eyed him. “And you are safe during this?”

“Yes. With Lance, I’m nowhere safer.” Her mouth still had a concerned twist to it, so he said, “I know it appears unbalanced, but Lance and I are still equal. We negotiate limits beforehand and if necessary, I can use a safeword and everything stops. Lance would never do anything I hadn’t asked for.” After the handcuff scene, his wrists had carried red marks. Allura had seen them when he forgot his gloves one day, but hadn’t said anything. “I may have marks left, but it’s entirely consensual.”

She shook her head. It was a gesture of disbelief, not denial. “You are a strange and fascinating species. And I say that as a universal traveller.” Brushing back her hair, she continued. “What about the others? Or is that kept private until bonded?”

“No, we’re pretty open about it. Lance and Shiro are both Doms, and Pidge and I are subs. Hunk’s a switch, which means he can play either role in a scene.”

“That is not what I would expect. It makes how you work together as a team even more unique.”

Keith smiled ruefully. “Humans have been trying to figure out sub-Dom dynamics since the beginning of time. I don’t think we’ll ever learn why we turn out the way we do.”

“Amazing,” she said, a spark of curiosity in her voice. “The Altean archives have little information on humans or Earth since they were last updated ten thousand years ago.”

“We could help with that," Keith offered. "If you want. Between the five of us, we could probably fill in a lot of gaps.”

Allura lit up. “That would be wonderful! Thank you. And thank you for telling me such personal information. It was enlightening to say the least. Now, where shall we start with the Galra?”

They talked for another hour or so. Kaltenecker ambled past to her personal oasis, so they stood and followed. Allura took great pleasure in feeding the docile cow. “Nothing so big was ever this gentle on Altea,” she said as she rubbed Kaltenecker’s ear.

“Yeah,” Keith said absently. The fist in his stomach relaxed and disappeared. It had been so long since he felt at ease around the others. The weight of his Galra side was still a troublesome burden, but it was more settled now. He had an answer to the question of the knife, of why his fighting instincts were the way they were, of why he could open doors no one else could. Everyone knew now. 

Keith breathed deeply.

When he and Allura left the holodeck, Lance was waiting for them. He was curled up in the Altean equivalent of a dumbwaiter reading an actual paper book he had scrounged up. He looked the pair over as they came out. “Everything went okay?”

“Yeah,” Keith said. “We talked things over. Allura’s going to help me go through the archives on the Galra, and we’re going to update the human entries.”

Lance brightened. “That’s fantastic.” He slid out of the alcove. Keith couldn’t help watching that long body unfold, and Lance noticed. He shot Keith a wink before turning to Allura. “Hunk would love that. Meeting these alien cultures has been a blessing in disguise for him. And Pidge could probably streamline any digital systems.”

“And you can be the source for the Earth arts and culture section,” Allura with a laugh. “I do hope all of you will help with this. Well-rounded history always comes from different perspectives.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Lance said.

“Yeah.” Keith rubbed at the back of his neck, over the collar’s clasp. He had spent so much time feeling different; he hadn’t been a proper sub, then wasn’t a proper teammate, and now wasn’t even a proper human. But his bond-family was already made up of strange people who didn’t quite have anywhere left to belong. It strengthened them and made them cherish each other more. Keith was part of that again. “I can’t wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems I can't leave this AU alone. Up next, a one-shot with the boys having some kinky fun with a good old-fashioned whipping! If that's your thing, see you there in a week or so. If not, I have another installment outlined that returns to the canon timeline and will probably be fit for consumption in the next couple of months.
> 
> Thank you for all the kudos, comments, and general encouragement you've given this series!


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